Originally Posted by Benedict
Above average for the medium but nothing really special. I don't know if you'd like any of Grant Morrison's work but I thought a lot of that was quite good, particularly Doom Patrol and The Invisibles. Along with Garth Ennis for Hellblazer or Preacher.

Nope, I haven't read those. I'm kinda new to the whole Anglo-American comics thing; I've been following the Franco-Belgian stuff more, and only got into it via Sandman about two years ago.

Not read Lucifer, or even heard of the writers, is it any good?

I liked it a lot. The series is written by Mike Carey, and based on Lucifer as imagined by Neil Gaiman in The Sandman. I've only read it up to Volume 9 (Crux), though. IMO it's not quite up to the flights of fantasy of Sandman at its best (but then few things are); however, it's a good deal more consistent in style, narrative, and quality. I'd say that if you liked The Sandman, you're probably going to like Lucifer too. I certainly liked it more than Swamp Thing.

Originally Posted by Prime Junta
Nope, I haven't read those. I'm kinda new to the whole Anglo-American comics thing; I've been following the Franco-Belgian stuff more, and only got into it via Sandman about two years ago.

They're generally fairly old. Doom patrol is IMO very good but . . . . very, very odd. Preacher & Hellblazer were both fantastic when Garth Ennis wrote them, very accessible but some real depth to them.

I liked it a lot. The series is written by Mike Carey, and based on Lucifer as imagined by Neil Gaiman in The Sandman. I've only read it up to Volume 9 (Crux), though. IMO it's not quite up to the flights of fantasy of Sandman at its best (but then few things are); however, it's a good deal more consistent in style, narrative, and quality. I'd say that if you liked The Sandman, you're probably going to like Lucifer too. I certainly liked it more than Swamp Thing.

Sounds interesting, I'd be pretty limited if I insisted on stuff that's a good as sandman.

Originally Posted by magerette
Just saw this—congratz. I hope his other books share that particular bloggish sense of humor. I'm planning on ordering Thunderer as we speak.

The books are less overtly humorous but there's still some amusement there in the subtext. It'd be interesting to see whether it becomes more prominent as he continues, I think there's an element of self consciousness and worry about what the editors & publishers think that's probably held back some amusing moments.

Reading Dr Neruda's Cure for Evil at the moment, enjoying it a lot so far. There's an interesting style to it, the protagonist and narrator is a psychiatrist himself so there's several layers of his feelings, his attempts to analyse those feelings, his debate as to whether he's confusing them by his attempts to analyse etc

A good main narrative but it's the intricate inner world and possible perspectives that's particularly interesting.

Audiobooks (unabridged) just ordered:
Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut
Hyperion Dan Simmons
Shadow & Claw: The First Half of 'The Book of the New Sun' Gene Wolfe
Acacia: The War with the Mein David Anthony Durham
The Lies of Locke Lamora Scott Lynch

Books & Audiobooks on the to buy list:
Viriconium M. John Harrison
The Etched City K.J. Bishop
Trial of Flowers Jay Lake
Majestrum: A Tale Of Henghis Hapthorn Matthew Hughes
The Way of Shadows (The Night Angel Trilogy) Brent Weeks
The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence
by Ray Kurzweil
Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century
by Michio Kaku
Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos by Michio Kaku
Unearthing Ancient America: The Lost Sagas of Conquerors, Castaways, and Scoundrels by Frank Joseph

I thought Lankhmar was an incredible fantasy story collection especially considering the time it was written in. It still stands today with the most solid, refreshing and simply clever fantasy writing I have have read. These need to be in a series or movies!

Infoquake, wow the true heir to William Gibson and Neal Stephonson. If you like/love cyberpunk especially Neuromancer/Count Zero & Snowcrash/Diamond Age this book and the whole series (Multireal and the upcoming third novel) are for you. It is a slightly more futuristic take on the cyberpunk themes, but combined and evolved to fit the new millenium. It is where cyberpunk has progressed to.

Anyone who has read any of these novels please share your thoughts!

— To sum it up, I feel our space program ended up like this. "It's one small step for man. One giant leap for man kind. Oops I fell on my butt after that leap and can't get up anymore."

Originally Posted by Benedict
On the alan moore note, who's looking forward to the Watchmen movie?

I saw it and loved it. It 80-85% exactly as the graphic novel. And I mean many lines and scenes were exactly as the comic. And Rorschach was amazing. Jackie Earle Haley did a great job of portraying him. So it's definitely not MEH imo.

Yeah, Fritz Leiber rules. Lankhmar was a huge influence on first-edition AD&D; the Legends & Lore book even had a section devoted to Nehwon. In fact, I discovered Leiber through AD&D. It's a brilliant mix of light-hearted fantasy with dirt and grit and moral ambiguity, sort of the best parts of both low and high fantasy all rolled into one. Conan without the bombast, Lord of the Rings without the wordiness, Discworld without the too-clever-for-its-own-good satire, and all beautifully written. Quarmall has got to be one of the most wonderfully imagined fantasy environments in any book.

(Okay, so it's also a bit uneven — The Bleak Shore for example read more like a bad acid trip than anything else.)

Originally Posted by danutz_plusplus
I saw it and loved it. It 80-85% exactly as the graphic novel. And I mean many lines and scenes were exactly as the comic. And Rorschach was amazing. Jackie Earle Haley did a great job of portraying him. So it's definitely not MEH imo.

Excellent! I love rorschach, if they can get him right the whole thing would definitely work for me.

Originally Posted by buckaroobonzai
Books just read:
Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut

The Etched City K.J. Bishop

Highly recommend anything by Kurt Vonnegut, one of my favourite authors. I've got the Etched City sitting at home in a recently arrived order so I'll let you know how I get on with it

Edit - btw read a couple of weeks ago that Philip Jose Farmer died as well, and that it was actually him who'd written that novel under the pseudonym Kilgore Trout rather than Vonnegut who I'd always assumed was behind it. Might try some of his stuff finally, I keep meaning to.

Currently reading the Biography of Heinz Erhardt, one of Germany's most famous comedians (died in the late 70s I think).

His "Sprachwitz" (wits of language) is almost unrivalled here in Germany. There are only very few exceptions to that, and (I think) none of them also contain the naivety which was inherent in his style, too. Except of Robert Gernhardt, maybe.

— “ Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.“ (E.F.Schumacher, Economist, Source)

Finished Hyperion a while back. Good enough to get me to buy Fall of Hyperion, but I'm not sure about all the drooling and "landmark" claims.

Currently getting to the end of Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth from Simon Green. I'm still eating up the Nightside stories. Taylor is getting a little too powerful, IMO, but I suppose he's got to be pretty stout to deal with the situations Green is putting him in recently. Shouldn't have any part in a discussion of "serious and proper" fiction, but the series is a lot of fun to read.

— Sorry. No pearls of wisdom in this oyster.
Dallas Cowboys: Great Season! / / Detroit Red Wings: Another rollercoaster this year?

As another Nightside Fan I can also recommend "Mean Streets" by Jim Butcher. Simon Green and others.

The Harry Dresden and John Taylor stories are very good. The John Taylor story occurs between "Unnatural Inquirer" and "Just another Judgement Day". John isn't that powerful in …Judgement day and there's an interesting turn of events at the end.

I was also sad to hear of P J Farmers passing, If you haven't read it pick up "to where the shattered bodies go" the start of the Riverworld series.

@dte: I've been itching to try Hyperion, but lately whenever I've been to a bookstore they'll only have the Endymions in stock. Sounds like it does enough well to keep on searching. I hadn't read Dan Simmons up until The Terror, which I loved. Currently reading his newest novel Drood. Great story and concept, with many built-in pleasures for fans of Dickens/Collins. I'm enjoying it a lot, though so far I'd say that The Terror is a notch better- for me it has a richer sense of character/place to it, somehow, and isn't as constrained (not sure if that's the word I want) by its real world ties. Still a great read that I can't wait to get back to each day.